poetry

not painful net zero

From https://www.engagelouisvilleco.org/togetheronclimate.

not painful net zero

oh powers that be,
prevailed upon to make net zero
not happen

may you instead find a way
to make net zero
not painful

we can’t exempt our way out
of December fire
or chronic drought
or climate catastrophe

we can’t have a future where
we can predict what the weather will bring
built on a present where
anything goes

don’t grandfather in the status quo
that makes it so hard
for so many
to breathe right now

and what are we to say
to the school kids
who came to council
pleading for this code?

who we already promised
we’d build better?
who we already told
we’d heard?

if money needs finding,
then find it –
as they say,
the banks are full

our town’s already blackened by carbon
and built on coal –
if you’d have blue skies someday
don’t give up on green now

poetry

paradise

paradise

blue white green
an endless looping cycle
nourishing itself
expiring
decaying
feeding the next
eating well
sleeping soundly
surrounded by
other beautiful life

poetry

Uncle Ben

Uncle Ben

with his one good eye
Uncle Ben sees
more than a generation ahead
turns back the teak at the border
prays one day there’ll be nothing
between his body and the baobab
hugs me like his long-lost sister
(I am)
plants green hope
everywhere he goes